Two rare albino squirrels have been pictured in Surrey in a short space of the time.

Despite claims there are only around 50 in the UK, the elusive rodents were photographed within hours of each other just 10 miles apart.

The first white squirrel, affectionately named Snow White, has been regularly visiting Hilary Mackinnon in West Clandon.

‘Snow’ has been spotted by members of the household on and off since October last year, mainly at breakfast time.

Another white squirrel was spotted on March 8 by keen-eyed Charlotte Gwilliam in an alley at the end of Linden Gardens in Leatherhead.

She said it was "quite a tame thing and was getting quite close".

The white squirrel spotted in Leatherhead by Charlotte Gwilliam

Surrey Wildlife Trust believes it is "most probably" two different squirrels.

“Whilst rare, there have been a number of sightings of white squirrels over the past few years in Surrey,” said a spokesman for the trust.

They are a white-coloured version of the eastern grey squirrel, and there are two types: albinos have red eyes and the white morph is a coat variation.

“Having a white coat they are vulnerable to predators such as foxes and birds of prey, so they don’t live very long," added the spokesman.

The Surrey Advertiser spoke to Alistair Kirk, who manages Surrey Wildlife Trust’s Biological Information Centre, to ask if Surrey gets a lot of similar sightings.

He said: “Simple answer is 'no', we do get anecdotal sightings on a fairly regular basis however we haven’t made any attempt to estimate numbers.

“Although certainly unusual and striking, my gut feeling is that they are not that uncommon.

“I have no idea where they got it from, but The Daily Mail claimed in an article last year that one in a million grey squirrels carry the gene which produces the white coat, and the Daily Telegraph said in 2013 that one in 100,000 are albino.

“So with maybe as many as five million squirrels in the UK, there should be 50 plus at any one time.

“So either they move around a lot, or there are more than the basic statistics would suggest."

Snow White the squirrel has been spotted in West Clandon by Hilary Mackinnon.

He continued: “London Wildlife Trust, in a very similar article in response to a sighing in Croydon last year, said they are ‘rare but not unheard of and we get a few records every year’.

“I wouldn’t disagree. Research from America has also suggested that clusters do tend to occur and anecdotally white squirrels do seem to be found in the same parks year on year. Same squirrel or inherited gene, who knows.

“There are certainly less predators in parks.

“Also, from personally having seen white squirrels in a park in south London, dogs seem to ignore them - i.e. ‘it’s not a squirrel, it’s the wrong colour’.”